Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)

[Tshokwane]

Credits to Praveen Siddannavar.

Date: 3rd November 2015

Place: Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Kabini, Karnataka, India

A window to a stealth predator!


The leopard is the smallest of the “big cats” (the other 3 are the tiger, lion and jaguar). They are the best tree climbers in the cat family; they have strong muscular limbs and retractable claws that allow them to climb up & down the trees. 

These cats are best known to adapt to the widest range of habitats of all the big cats. This adaptability has allowed them to survive in various different geographic areas across Asia and Africa.
During this sighting we spotted the leopard resting on tree adjacent to this fallen tree. This young sub adult female posed for us for while and later when she heard noise of an oncoming safari vehicle, she decided to climb down. It was a typical behavior of these leopards that I observed, while descending from the fallen tree she paused and posed with direct eye contact, next move was so natural to crouch and hide under this twigs with few leaves and last move bang, she took off like a bullet and disappeared in the under growth. I am simply fascinated by this leopard behavior.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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